Attention: Thanks for all of your reviews. This is the flash back scene to where the relationship changed between Draco and Hermione, Sorry if it comes out a little short, this chapter was hard to write with my final and school, but sorry to tell you this may be happening a lot until February, I go to a different type of college and end up with a final ever week or two so it sucks but hey I only do one class at a time and each class is only 1-2 weeks so hey I cant complain too much, but, in the future they will hopefully be longer and you wont have to wait more than a couple days in between chapters.
Disclaimer- I do not own this, JK Rowling does, I DO own the plot so don't steal it isn't nice!
A/N: 'This is a contest entry for the Dracolov challenge! If you would like to enter you must e-mail Dracolov, her e-mail is in her profile on The last day to enter is 12/1/04. Please R & R (read and review) and thank you for reading my story.
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It was the first day of winter break and Hermione was sitting in the empty Great Hall with Ron, Harry and Ginny having lunch. Few students stayed this year as most opted to spend the time with there families because with no end in site for the war, they seemed to want to spend as much time with them as possible. For the four friends, however, it wasn't a safe option so they where stuck staying at school.
At that moment, just like for the last 10 minutes, her friends have been trying to convince her to come flying with them for the afternoon. Needless to say, they where failing miserable.
"Come on 'Mione, the term is over, come out side and have some fun with us.Take a break from that blasted library since you spend way to much time in there as it is." whined Ron who was sitting a crossed from her and next to Harry.
"I already told you no, so I don't know why you keep asking. You know what my answer is going to be as it hasn't changed and it isn't going to change in the near or distant future." She said as she finished her lunch, then stood up, "Now, I am going to the library. I'll come find you all later."
Five minutes later she was walking down the isles of the library humming jungle bells to herself when she stumbled upon him in a state she would never have expected. He was sitting by the window looking out at nothing in particular with tears silently rolling from his gray eyes down his pale face. Draco Malfoy was crying unabaited and in public; she never would have believed it to be possible if she hadn't seen it herself.
She stood transfixed just watching him, thanking god that he hadn't noticed her come up. Unsure of what he would do if he knew she was there, she let several minutes pass as she just watched him until she realized she had to do something. Despite him being her enemy and a pureblood fanatic, she still could stand to watch it any more so she pulled a clean tissue out of her pocket, walked over and handed it to him.
Apparently he had thought he was completely alone because he jumped when he noticed her hand and looked startled. He quickly whipped off his cheeks which had turned red, from anger or embarrassment she wasn't sure. Cautiously she spoke, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, what do you want Granger?" He replied but she noticed his voice was only half full with it's usual venom.
"Simply to know if you are alright, as I asked before, I am just trying to be nice." Both her face and voice filled with concern.
"I...I'm..." Was all he got out as his eyes welled up with tears while he clutched a piece of parchment she hadn't noticed before.
"What's wrong? Do you want to talk about it? I'm here if you do, I wont..." Before she could finish he was looking down at the floor crying.
Apprehensively she walked over to him and put her hand on his back, when he didn't push her away she began to slowly rub his back trying to calm him as her mother had done on many occasions for her when she was younger.
The next moment he shocked her as he turned and flung his head on her shoulder. As he cried, she continued to stroke his back and tried to figure out what could make him, of all people, this distraught.
After about 10 minutes of sobbing he finally told her. He told her about the letter he had received from his father saying he had to remove his wife, Draco's mother, from there family because she had begun to turn him away from what was his destiny after he had refused to get his Dark Mark. Hearing this she was shocked, she had meet the senior Malfoy on many unfortunate occasions and knew he wasn't a good man in the least. but to kill his own wife? That was just unthinkably cruel and to then blame their son's actions for why he did it; she was truly disgusted.
They stayed there in the library until dinner had came. After about an hour Draco's crying had subsided but he wasn't sure what made him open up to her, the girl he openly hated. But that day he saw her as more than a mudblood; he saw her as someone he could trust, the only person besides his mother who seemed to actually want to know how he was. He knew that night he could never stomach calling her that again.
The rest of the break they would meet secretly in the library to talk, at first it was mostly about his mother and what had happened up until after Christmas. But then they actually began getting to know each other by discussing their interests, hobbies, odd facts about them selves; anything really. Hermione was sad that she had to keep this from her best friends but she knew they, especially Ron, would never understand how she could become friends with him. So they kept it secret for the time being.
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Sorry for if it wasn't long enough, I wanted this chapter to simply be about Hermione remembering when it had all changed.
So what do ya think? Please don't forget to review, it keeps me wanting to write faster.
so don't forget REVIWE, REVIEW, REVIEW!!!!
